Fender Aerodyne Jazz Bass

From WikiMusician

The Fender Aerodyne Jazz Bass is a stylish lightweight (7 lbs, 13 oz), solid-body electric bass that combines the playability of a thinner bolt-on Jazz-style neck with the ability to dial in the traditional tone of a P-bass, a Jazz bass, or any combination of the two.

1 Design features
2 What It Sounds Like
3 Video Demonstration of Fender Aerodyne Jazz Bass
4 Upgrades
5 Reviews
6 Vendor Information

Design features

The body is made with basswood and shaped into a unique radius/carved top. All models for export are painted in a black polyurethane finish with a cream binding on top. Basswood has good acoustic properties but is not especially attractive in an unfinished state, which is why the bass is painted instead of stained. The body has a cool, sleek, aerodynamic look but easily shows fingerprint smudges on the polished black surface; these can be removed with a cloth rag.

Fender Aerodyne Jazz Bass – front view

Fender Aerodyne Jazz Bass – back view

Fender Aerodyne Jazz Bass – bottom view

The neck is made of maple in a "C" shape with a satin polyurethane finish.

The fretboard is stained rosewood with a 7.25" radius (184mm) and 20 medium jumbo frets. Scale length is 34" (864mm) and width at the nut is 1.50" (38mm). There are no dot position markers on the fretboard; instead, these are provided as side dot position inlays (see photo, below right).

Fender Aerodyne Jazz Bass – dot markers are on the side of the fretboard instead of the face

Fender provides 1 split single-coil Precision Bass Pickup (mid) and 1 single-coil Jazz Bass Pickup (bridge). Control knobs are volume, volume and tone.

Hardware includes a smoked chrome bridge and tuning machines, a black top-mounted Stratocaster output jack, smoked chrome skirted control knobs and rear-mounted controls. There is a matching painted headstock and a silver appliqué logo.

Fender introduced the newest model of this bass in 2005. It is "Crafted in Japan" for export; this version does not include a pickguard. A variant of this bass is manufactured with a pickguard and several color options for sale in Japan. The design is based on the Fender Jazz Special, which was made in Japan during the late 1980s.

What It Sounds Like

Note: Tone knob is set THREE-FOURTHS in the BASSier direction for all demos. Recording input levels were unchanged for each demo, so playback levels vary depending on how much volume was applied to each pickup. Music played is an interpretation of the 8 bar bridge from And This Bird Can Sing by The Beatles (Copyright © 1966 Sony/ATV Songs LLC, Copyright renewed).

Sound Demo – Aerodyne Jazz Bass, P pickup ON FULL and J pickup ON FULL. Musician: DaveB

Sound Demo – Aerodyne Jazz Bass, P pickup ON FULL and J pickup ON HALF. Musician: DaveB

Sound Demo – Aerodyne Jazz Bass, P pickup ON FULL and J pickup OFF. Musician: DaveB

Sound Demo – Aerodyne Jazz Bass, P pickup ON HALF and J pickup ON HALF. Musician: DaveB

Sound Demo – Aerodyne Jazz Bass, P pickup ON HALF and J pickup ON FULL. Musician: DaveB

Sound Demo – Aerodyne Jazz Bass, P pickup OFF and J pickup ON FULL. Musician: DaveB

Video Demonstration of Fender Aerodyne Jazz Bass

Length: 1:16

0:00 Introduction
0:28 Body
0:43 Features
1:16 End

Upgrades

Stock equipment on the Fender Aerodyne Jazz Bass is mid-level grade and will provide adequate sound quality for performance and recording. Professional-level upgrades can enhance sound quality and playability. As always, upgrades from Fender or any other manufacturer are a matter of personal preference based on particular requirements of each musician.

Pickups

The stock J pickup on the Aerodyne Jazz Bass is single-coil. The bass therefore provides humbucker capability as long as the J pickup is turned to the full on position. Since the Aerodyne Jazz Bass includes both "P" pickups (from the Fender P Bass) and "J" pickups (from the Fender Jazz Bass), a bassist has the opportunity to blend different tones based on the amount of volume sent to each pickup. Unfortunately, stock Aerodyne Jazz Bass loses humbucking capability once the J pickup is turned down from the full on position – resulting in a distinct and irritating hum amplified through the speaker cabinet. Upgrading the stock J pickup to a model with dual coils will eliminate the hum and provide full humbucking capability no matter where the J volume knob is turned. Bassists who play the Aerodyne Jazz Bass and desire total flexibility in tone control should consider upgrading the stock pickups.

Pickups used in the sound files above are from Seymour Duncan; they include the SPB-1 Vintage for P-Bass pickup on the neck side and the STK-J2 Hot Stack J pickup on the bridge side. Pickup upgrades for Seymour Duncan use the wiring schematic shown here.

Strings

Halfwound string construction

Tone created with Fender strings on a stock Aerodyne Jazz Bass is adequate, but some musicians prefer to use bass strings from other manufacturers. Strings used in the sound demos above are ground wound (also called halfwound or pressure wound strings). This string is a cross between roundwound and flatwound, providing both the tonal characteristics of roundwound and the lack of squeaking and the playing feel of flatwound. Such strings are usually made by winding round wire around a round core first, then polishing, grinding (thus the name, ground wound) or pressing the exterior part of the winding until it is practically flat. (See illustration; string text and illustration cited from wikipedia:Groundwound.)

Strings used for the sound files above are half wound Hot Wires from Status Graphite; string gauges are 45-65-85-105.

Bridge

The stock bridge provides a lightweight chrome construction and free-floating round roller string saddles, which some musicians say will cause imprecise harmonic tuning and side movement of strings. Third-party replacement bridges seek to remedy these factors by using denser metal for construction and precision string saddles held in place with individual slotted adjustment channels. The Fender Aerodyne Jazz bass described in this article was recently upgraded with a slotted BadAss Bass Bridge II manufactured by Leo Quan. Replacement simply entailed unscrewing the stock bridge and screwing in the new one. Compared to the stock bridge, the BadAss bridge provides 46% more contact area with the bass body (44mm x 80mm versus 63mm x 82mm). The result is a noticeable increase in tone resonance, sustain, attack and clarity of notes. Another byproduct of the BadAss bridge is reliable tuning. The bass used to require daily tuning, with several micro-adjustments required during a long session. The bass has not required re-tuning in several weeks since installation of the new bridge.

Stock bridge from Fender Aerodyne Jazz bass

BadAss II bridge installed on Fender Aerodyne Jazz bass

Reviews

Bass Player Magazine (Aug. 2003)

Harmony-Central.com

Wikipedia

The Fender Discussion Page Forum also contains player opinions about the Aerodyne Jazz Bass; use the search function under Fender Bass Guitars and Bass Amps.